These models were a good fit because they had
very strong, almost indestructible frames. Unfortunately, the bicycles were
heavy compared to European imports because they could not be used with modern
alloys such as chrome-moly. As a result,
the Varsities and Continentals made few inroads into the adult market. To meet this European competition, Schwinn developed a line
of middleweight bicycles. The top of the
line middleweight was the Corvette, a name mimicking the popular sports car.
On his part, Schwinn never gave up on the bicycle side of his
company but he recognized that to survive his company would have to diversify. As a child, I never owned a Schwinn bike but I learned about them from others in my neighborhood. Families not only passed them on from one son or daughter to another but sometimes they survived and were schwinn tricycle used by subsequent generations. I also worked in a Schwinn bicycle shop in the 1970s and I became very familiar with the Schwinn brand. I recently rebuilt an old 1983 Schwinn Le Tour and the article had been quite popular. • Hybrid – a range of fitness-orientated bikes that are comfortable and capable on the road or on off-road paths.
The
question would be whether the new management team assembled by a young Ed
Schwinn, Jr. could prepare the company for the coming decade. In the era of Rosie the Riveter, the composition of Schwinn’s
workforce also changed. Male and some female Schwinn employees were reporting
for overseas duty in large numbers. Schwinn adopted a policy to encourage the
family members of those leaving for military service to fill their vacant jobs. Many mothers, wives, and sisters began
working on the Schwinn’s factory floor as their loved ones headed for the military
conflicts in Europe and Japan. During the war years, women became the main
workforce for Schwinn.
The factory floor in Chicago was an amicable place to work
in the 1940s and 1950s. Frank W. Schwinn made it a point to know the factory
workers by name. Workers trusted Schwinn and did not require a detailed written
contract. An element of schwinn bicycles paternalism was evident between Schwinn and its employees
but it was always correctly assumed that Schwinn would take care of its
workers. This tradition was eroded in the 1960s and 1970s with the rise in the
volume of Schwinn sales.
Having first made his money in the meatpacking business and later as a successful investor and banker, Arnold could see the promise of collaborating with an innovative bicycle factory manager like Ignaz Schwinn. The consequence was the Arnold Schwinn and Company was formed in 1895. With a strong investor and an experienced manager, Arnold Schwinn & Company was off and running. Richard Schwinn wanted to stay in the bicycle business but he was prohibited from using the family name.
Since workers built the company’s first bike in 1895, you can even find antique Schwinn bicycles on eBay. Ignaz Schwinn was born in Hardheim, Baden, Germany, in 1860 and worked on two-wheeled ancestors of the modern bicycle that appeared in 19th century Europe. In 1895, with the financial backing of fellow German American Adolph Frederick William Arnold (a meat packer), he founded Arnold, Schwinn & Company. Schwinn’s new company coincided with a sudden bicycle craze in America. Chicago became the center of the American bicycle industry, with thirty factories turning out thousands of bikes every day.
This strategy would succeed and the Schwinn Paramount
would become part of Schwinn’s enduring legacy for quality and innovation until
the company’s bankruptcy in 1993. The brand name passed through a number of owners over the following years, including Schwinn/GT, which also went bankrupt in 2001. The Schwinn brand was then purchased by the current owners, Pacific Cycle, Inc. This company is part of Dorel Industries and it also owns a number of other bike brands, including Cannondale, [GT Bicycles](/s/-/gt and Mongoose.